La dolce vita at Lake Garda - Impressions of Peschiera del Garda, Italy

I'm sorry I've been AWOL for the past couple of weeks. But my fingers were already cramping from writing my bachelor's thesis, so I wasn't able to type anything besides that damn thesis. But now I'm back and I brought you some pics and stories from the beautiful Lago di Garda in Italy.

To celebrate the separation from our thesises, me and my three girlfriends from University spent a wonderful weekend in Peschiera del Garda at the south bank of Lake Garda.We started out roadtripping from Munich and stopped for lunch in Innsbruck, Austria. After all the stress of the past few weeks this was the perfect start into a weekend without any pressure and la dolce vita - the sweet life!

Munich's Cat Café Katzentempel - my new favorite place!

I found my absolutely favorite Café in Munich: Germany's first "Katzencafé" Café Katzentempel, offering hot coffee, vegan food and cuddly cats!
The principle of a cat cafés is nothing new, at least not in Asia. The Japanese had this great idea to put two of my favorite things together - coffee and cats! So of course I was deeply jealous when I read a feature on a newly opened cat café in Vienna (the Café Neko) a few months ago, thinking I would totally be a regular there if I lived in Vienna. Imagine my joy when I heard that a cat café just recently opened in Schwabing's Türkenstraße.

So I went there this weekend and these are my impressions:

Moving into a Brisbane Queenslander

As a backpacker you often stay in hostels or couchsurf a bit. But when you know you’ll be staying in one city for a while and may be working there it can be a good idea to look for a permanent place. So here’s a little story how looking for a place in Australia can look like:

So there I was, moving into the house of that “Wolfe Creek”-Murderer-Look-alike. It was a nice, though a little shabby Queenslander just a few miles out of Brisbane. How did I get there?

 

The famous Queenslander

One day in Salzburg, Austria

Usually I’m a big fan of foreign countries as far away from Germany as possible. But when I spent a day in Salzburg last summer I was hooked. Salzburg is the epitome of an idyllic city. The rugged rocks rising up behind the city form a great contrast to the picturesque historic center with its elegant baroque style buildings. And there are lots of nice things to do and beautiful places to visit. 
So here’s my little list of how to spend one day in Salzburg.

Free stuff to do in and around California

As you might have already read I've spent 3 months in California end of 2012 studying at the University of California Riverside.
I had lots of free time and tried to use every second of it exploring Cali. And I found a few cool things you can do in (or around) Cali that are completely FREE! (wohoo! - who doesn't like that?)

Bull Riding in Western Australia

When I'm feeling stressed (like now with 13 finals smashed into one week) I always think of moments when I was completely relaxed and envy my past self.

Like in 2008 when I had spent 4 months on the Australian East Coast and just left for the West Coast. I wanted to find the real Australia, or at least what I imagined the real Australia to be like. You know, red soil, lots of kangaroos and no tourists, a lonely road seemingly leading nowhere…that kind of stuff. That wasn’t exactly what I found, but what I found instead was pretty much as real as Australia can be.

Beautiful Perth

The Smell of Hanoi

Pictures and travel diaries are great, but what really takes you back to a place all of a sudden is the smell. That’s what always happens to me when I walk past that Asian food shop and little cookshop on Rosenheimer Platz in Munich. The hot, greasy odor always takes me back to Vietnam within seconds.

Like Being in a Disney Movie - Beautiful Germany Part III

Two weeks ago, on May 1st to be exact, I went to see the most famous castle of Germany (and probably also the most well-known castle amongst the Japanese): Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Walt Disney even modeled his Sleeping Beauty Castle after Castle Neuschwanstein.
Want proof? There you go:

Beautiful Germany Part II

So here's another load of pictures:
When I visited my friend in Hamburg a few weeks ago we took a trip to the Baltic Sea. Which seemed kind of stupid because it was 10° C (about 50° F) at the  most and the sun only showed sporadically. But I had never been the Baltic Sea before, so I didn't mind the weather. We went to the beach at Timmendorfer Strand which is about an hour from Hamburg.

I'm back! - Beautiful Germany Part I

It's been a while since my last post. But when my Social Media class at UCR ended, I planned on keeping up this blog so here we go:
Being back in Germany means more "reality" and less time (and money) to travel. But I managed to take a few trips around Germany to visit friends and I want to share some pictures of those trips with you:

Strolling along the Dreisam

A few weeks ago I went to Freiburg, a cute city down in the south-west corner of Germany. It's got all those little creeks running through the city center and the river Dreisam which gives Freiburg a relaxing and mediterranean atmosphere. Here are a few impressions: